Toy



TOY.

; APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 26. 1919.

1,35 ,324,; Paten ted Oct. 19,1920;

\\. 1 v GINVENTOR.

ATTORNEY UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN C. TU NER, or DAYTON, OHIO.

Tor.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Oct. 19, 1920.

Application filed September 26, 1919. Serial No. 326,638.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J orm C. TURNER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Dayton, in the county of Montgomery and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Toys, of which thefollowing is a specification, reference being had therein to theaccompanying drawing This invention relates to toys, more particularlyto a projecting device for a toy such as that shown in the patentgranted to me on Oct. 1 1, 1919, No. 1,318,708.

In the toy shown and described in said application, a car is projectedfrom an initial station along a track to a remote station, from which itis automatically returned to the initial station. The projecting deviceis spring operated and is of such a character that itmay be set with thespring under ten sion and released, either by hand or by the car uponits return to the initial station, to cause the car to be projectedtoward the re mote station.

The object of the present invention isto' provide means by which theprojecting device may be quickly and easily retractedand secured in itsretracted position; and which.

porting structure.

In these drawings 1 have illustrated one embodiment of my invention andhave shown the sameas applied to a projecting device similar tothatshown and described in the above mentioned application, ,but it willbe understood, that. not only may the invention be embodied in toys ofdiflerent kinds, but'that the construction of the device itself may takevarious forms.

As here shown, the toy comprises a housing 1 mounted at one end of atrack 2, a part only of which is shown, upon which travels.

a car or other suitable device, which is not shown. The housmg 1, isprovided in its front and rear walls with openings I 3 in which 1sguided a plunger comprising a head 4: anda shank 5. 'Thisjshank has freesliding movement in the guideway, and is acted upon by a spring which.tends to move the same forward and to cause it to project the car orother device along the track. As here shown. a spring 6 is coiledaboutthe shank of the plunger and is secured at one end to the frontwall of the housing and at its other end to the shank 5. Means areprovided whereby the plungermay be retained in its retracted position,with the springunder tension, and then released to permit it to act uponthe car. Any suitable detent may be provided for this purpose, but asimple and eflicient method of accomplishing this result consists inproviding.

the lower edge of the shank of the plunger with a recess 7, forming ashoulder which is adapted to be held in engagement with the lower edgeof the guideway 3 in the rear wall of the housing, when the plunger isin. its retracted position, the housing at the edge of the openingserving as a detent to retain the plunger in its retracted posi tion.The movement of the shoulder into engagement with the edge of thehousing imparts a slight pivotal movement to the shank about its supportin the forward portion of the guideway, thusv imparting a slight tiltingmovement to the head 4 of the plunger. Consequently,,when the toy isreturned tothe housing, orinitial station it will strike the head. oftheplunger, rock the same about its pivotal support in the guideway anddisengage the shoulder 7 from the edge of the housing, thereby releasingthe plunger and permitting the spring toact upon the same to project thetoy along the track. By retracting the plunger during the travel of thecar to and from the remote station the car can be caused to maintain acontinuous reciprocatory movement between the two stations.

I have provided a retracting device by means of which the plunger. maybe quickly and easily retracted and the shoulder 7 moved into engagementwith the detent. To this end the retracting device is of such acharacter that during the first portion of its movement, retractingmovement only will be imparted to the plunger, but as the plungerapproaches the completion of its rearward movement, the rear portion ofthe shank will be moved downwardly to cause the shoulder to engage theedge. of the guideway, or detent. In that form of the device here shown,it comprises a lever 8, pivotally mounted upon a base or platform 9secured to, and projecting rearwardly from the housing 1. This levercomprises an upwardly extending portion which is loosely connected withtheshank 5 of the plunger, preferably by means of a staple 10 mounted inthe shank of the plunger and through which the lever extends. The upperend of the lever is bent rearwardly at approximately right angles to themain portion and constitutes a handle portion for the lever. The fulcrumof the lever is arranged between the limits of the movement of thatportion of the shank 5 with which the lever is connected. Consequently,when pressure is applied to the handle of the lever in a rearwarddirection, the shank 5 of the plunger will be moved rearwardly and thespring 6 placed under tension. As that portion of the shank with whichthe lever is connected passes the fulcrum of the lever the latter willbegin to exert a downward movement upon the shank of the plunger, whichwill increase with the angle of inclination of the lever, thus causingthe rear end of the shank to be pressed downwardly, and the shoulder 7to engage the detent or housing as soon as it is brought into alinementtherewith. The lever being mounted upon a part connected with the mainstructure or housing the downward pressure thereon also serves to retainthe device as a whole against movement during the retraction of theplunger. The character of the connection between the plunger and thelever 8 is such that it will not interfere with the vertical movement ofthe rear end of the shank 5 when the head of the plunger is engaged bythe car and the plunger is rocked about its fulcrum 1n the forward partof the guideway.

The operation of the device will be readily understood from theforegoing description thereof, and it will be apparent that I haveprovided means which will serve to quickly and easily retract theplunger and to positively move the same into engagement with its detent,and further that this means is of such a character that it will not inany way interfere with the releasing of the plunger, either by hand orby the car as the latter returns to the initial station. It will also beapparent that the device is very simple in its construction andoperation, and by reason of its simplicity is especially well adaptedfor use in connection with toys, which must be produced at a low costand which are operated by children.

lVhile I have shown and described one embodiment of my invention, I wishit to be understood that I do not desire to be limited to the detailsthereof as various modifications may occur to a person skilled in theart.

Having now fully described my invention what I claim as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a toy, the combination with a track for a car, of a structuremounted at one end of said track and having a guideway, a springactuated reciprocatory plunger mounted in said guideway to project saidcar along the track, said structure and said plunger having cooperatingparts to retain the latter in its retracted position, and a leverpivotally mounted adjacent to said structure, connected with saidplunger and having a part forming a handle the manipulation of whichwill move said plunger to its retracted position.

2. In a toy, the combination with a track for a car, of a structuremounted at one end of said track and having a guideway, a springactuated reciprocatory plunger mounted in said guideway to project saidcar along the track, said structure and said plunger having cooperatingparts to retain the latter in its retracted position, a part connectedwith said structure and arranged below said plunger, and a leverpivotally connected at its lower end to said part, connected between itsends with said plunger, and having a part arranged above said plunger toform a handle by means of which said plunger may be actuated to retractsaid plunger.

3. The combination with a projecting device comprising a spring actuatedreciprocatory plunger, and means to retain said plunger in its retractedposition, said plunger being movable transversely into engagement withsaid retaining means, of a retracting device pivotally mounted adjacentto said plunger and operatively connected therewith to retract the sameand to impart transverse movement thereto.

4. In a device of the character described, the combination with a springactuated reciprocatory plunger and a detent, said plunger having a partmovable into and out of engagement with said detent and provided with atransverse guideway, of a lever mounted adjacent to said plunger,extending through said guideway, and having a handle portion by means ofwhich it may be operated to retract said plunger and to move said partthereof into engagement with said detent. i

5. In a device of the character described, the combination with a springactuated plunger and a detent, said plunger having a part movable intoand out of engagement with said detent, of a lever extendingtransversely to said plunger and loosely connected therewith, said leverbeing pivotally mounted on one side of said plunger and being providedwith a handle portion 011 the other side of said plunger.

6. In a device of the character described, the combination with asupporting structure having a guideway, and a spring actuated alungerslidably mounted in said guideway and having a shoulder arranged toengage the said edge of said guideway to retain said plunger in itsretracted position, of a lever operatively connected with said plungerto retract the same and to move said shoulder into position to engagethe edge of said guideway.

7. In a device of the character described the combination with asupporting structure having a guideway and a spring actuated plungerslidably mounted in said guideway and. having a shoulder arrangedtoengage the lower edge of said guideway toretain said plunger in itsretracted position, of a lever operatively connected with said plungerto retract said plunger and to impart downward movement to that part ofsaid plunger having the shoulder.

S. In a device of the character described, the combination with asupporting structure having a guideway, and a spring actuated plungerslidably mounted in said guideway and having a shoulder arranged toengage the lower edge of said guideway to retain said plunger in itsretracted position, of a lever operatively connected with said plungerand s0 arranged that the first portion of its movement will impartretractive movement only to said plunger, and the latter portion of itsmovement will impart both.

retractive movement to said plunger and downward movement to the rearportionof said plunger.

9. In a device of the character described,

the combination with a supporting structure, having a guideway and alsohaving an exing portion loosely connected with said shank of: saidplunger to permit the latter to have vertical movement relativelythereto, and having a handle portion extending rearwardly from the firstmentioned portion.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature hereto.

' JOHN C. TURNER.

